Some of the founding members on July 25, 1998 at the library dedication.
L-R Judy Benish-- newsletter editor at the time. Gloria Blank-- founding member, Illene Mullikin-- founding member and Carol Higgins-- founding member. June McMillin not pictured.

Lower Wisconsin River Genealogical &Historical Research Center

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Welcome to the new website of the Lower Wisconsin River Genealogical & Historical Research Center, Inc . This is who we are and what we are all about and if you are interested in what we do and have to offer we would gladly welcome you as a member.

Our old website is: http://home.mchsi.com/~dragonslair/
(old website is static and no changes can be made)

HISTORY:

In October 1991 four women met for the first time at the St. Paul's Methodist Church in Wauzeka, WI to form a new non-profit organization to be called the Lower Wisconsin River Genealogical & Historical Research Center, Inc(LWR for short) for the purpose of fostering interests in genealogy, family and area history, gather and preserve the records of our ancestors, founders and early settlers along the lower Wisconsin River. The first four organizers were June McMillan, Illene Mullikin, Vi Reichmann and Carol Higgins. The first meeting took place November 30th, 1991 where 27 people attended and officers were elected.

NEWSLETTER:

The same year the LWR was founded a quarterly newsletter was developed and to be called "Looking For Yesterday" which is still distributed to paid members today. The newsletter contains officers names, meeting dates with program listings, library holdings and news as well as histories and genealogy stories submitted for interesting and valued reading. Other things within the newsletters are queries and updates along with helpful hints and articles of genealogical and historical interest
Suggestions for subject matter or donated articles will always be considered for publication as well.

LIBRARY:

The library had it's start in a small room at the St. Paul's Methodist Church but quickly outgrew it and a new place was obtained in a far right corner at the rear of Century Hall in Wauzeka. The library is open 10 am--2 pm on the first and third Saturdays from May until November.

However, the Library will always open by appointment. Please call 608-326-2643

Some of the most useful resources for family history in our library are:

1884 History of Crawford & Richland Counties
1932 History of Old Crawford County (four volumes)
1969 Sesquicentennial Crawford Co. Histories
Crawford County Plat Books
LWR Surname File
LWR Marriage Book (1816-1907)
LWR Birth Book-Earliest to 1907
LWR Death Records Book-Earliest to 1907
Microfilm of Wauzeka newspapers indexed for Marriages and Deaths
Three books of gleanings from area newspapers by Vern Erickson
Rural Schools of Crawford County with Index
Indexed issues of "Looking for Yesterday"
Cemetery listings as well as pictures and obituaries.

This is only a partial listing of our holdings.

We have a wide range of donated Family Histories, historical artifacts, church
histories, postcards and books to assist in local history.